A man who specializes in debunking paranormal occurrences checks into the fabled room 1408 in the Dolphin Hotel. Soon after settling in, he confronts genuine terror.
Director:
Mikael Håfström
Stars:
John Cusack,
Samuel L. Jackson,
Mary McCormack
After a teenager has a terrifying vision of him and his friends dying in a plane crash, he prevents the accident only to have Death hunt them down, one by one.
A woman brings her family back to her childhood home, which used to be an orphanage for handicapped children. Before long, her son starts to communicate with an invisible new friend.
A loan officer who evicts an old woman from her home finds herself the recipient of a supernatural curse. Desperate, she turns to a seer to try and save her soul, while evil forces work to push her to a breaking point.
Would you kill to live? When a madman tries to teach how much life is worth, two men find themselves in a room with no idea how they got there or why they're there.
Kate and John Coleman are rebuilding their troubled marriage. Kate had a drinking problem, but is in therapy and is doing well. She has been sober for one year. The couple decide to adopt a child. When they meet the nine-year-old Russian girl, Esther, at the St. Marina Orphanage, they immediately fall in love with the well-educated orphan. Their young son, Daniel, is hostile to his new sister; but their deaf daughter, little Max, is enchanted with her - at first. Eventually, Kate begins to feel that Esther is manipulative and possibly even psychologically disturbed. John refuses to listen to his wife's misgivings, and the wounds in their marriage reopen. Kate calls Sister Abigail at the orphanage, and the nun informs her that Esther has a troubled and mysterious history. Kate delves further into Esther's past and discovers she is not all she pretends to be. Written by
Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
The screenplay for this film was featured in the 2007 Blacklist; a list of the "most liked" unmade scripts of the year. See more »
Goofs
When Daniel is playing Guitar Hero on his Xbox 360 console, his controller power light is not on, indicating the controller is not on/or plugged in to the console. Also, when the game is shown on the television Daniel is playing on the 'Expert' difficulty and appears to be doing quite well, however looking at his fingers, Daniel is only pushing the first three buttons on the guitar (easy mode) and not all five buttons as Expert mode requires. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
John Coleman:
Hang on. I know. You're doin' so good. You're doin' so good, honey. You all right?
Kate Coleman:
Yeah.
See more »
Crazy Credits
The opening production logos are against black, and are intermittently shown covered with fluorescent paint, as if under a flickering black light. See more »
The Glory of Love
Written by Billy Hill
Performed by Jimmy Durante
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Records Inc.
By Arrangement with Warner Music Group Film and TV Licensing See more »
We've seen Orphan many times before (The Bad Seed, The Good Son and, of course, The Omen), yet, somehow, Jaume Collet Serra manages to squeeze something fresh out of an old tale.
There's plenty of shocks and also some laughs and Esther's "secret" is, surprisingly, original.
Orphan doesn't hold a candle to the aforementioned films, but its better than the more recent ones like Joshua (which, coincidentally, Vera Farmiga also starred in, as well as having the same role (mother)).
Don't let the trailer fool you into thinking this is just another "evil kid" movie. Its really much more than that. This is definitely one of the better horror films to come along these days.
My audience loved it, and so did I.
119 of 170 people found this review helpful.
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We've seen Orphan many times before (The Bad Seed, The Good Son and, of course, The Omen), yet, somehow, Jaume Collet Serra manages to squeeze something fresh out of an old tale.
There's plenty of shocks and also some laughs and Esther's "secret" is, surprisingly, original.
Orphan doesn't hold a candle to the aforementioned films, but its better than the more recent ones like Joshua (which, coincidentally, Vera Farmiga also starred in, as well as having the same role (mother)).
Don't let the trailer fool you into thinking this is just another "evil kid" movie. Its really much more than that. This is definitely one of the better horror films to come along these days.
My audience loved it, and so did I.